


the inherent eroticism of a university library after dark

by summerhuntresses



Category: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Blood, Comedy of Errors, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Violence, despite what the other tags say this is actually a comedy, grotesque bone constructs, tw for harrow being feral
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:15:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerhuntresses/pseuds/summerhuntresses
Summary: “I should have expected this, shouldn’t I.”ORGideon and Harrow have a bad habit of finding their way to the stacks at night for 'professional reasons', Camilla really needs to stop stabbing as a first reaction, and Palamedes just wants some goddamn sleep.
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	the inherent eroticism of a university library after dark

**Author's Note:**

> bro i don't even know quarantine is getting to me or some shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gideon and harrow get caught in the stacks, palamedes makes bad decisions due to sleep deprivation, and there is honestly an unrealistic amount of knife combat.

“ _Get out!”_

A knife flashed. Gideon yelped, then swore, her sword far too cumbersome to be useful in such tight quarters. She yanked out her knuckleduster, barely catching the other blade before it could slice across her cheek. “Not in the _face_ , shit!”

Harrow hissed, hands moving to the bone circling her wrists before both arms were caught in a tight but invisible grip. Immobilized, she settled for spitting curses that Gideon hadn’t been aware she knew at their attackers. A foot lashed out, catching someone with a sharp crack accompanied by yet more cursing. This cursing, however, was in a male voice. A voice Gideon recognized.

“Sex Pal? Is that _you?_ ” She squinted into the darkness, still struggling to keep the other knife trapped with hers. “What the fuck, man?”

There was a hugely exasperated sigh before the other knife flickered back out of sight abruptly, nearly sending Gideon’s dagger into her own bicep with the sudden lack of opposing pressure. Gideon recognized that sigh, too. It had been directed at her too many times for her to ever be able to forget it. “Hi, Cam. New knife?”

Camilla sighed again. “Nav.” She pulled out her phone, flicking on the flashlight and shining it directly into Gideon’s eyes. “I should have expected this, shouldn’t I.”

Gideon winced at the harsh glare. The light hurt, too. She sheathed her knuckleduster, stubborn instinct keeping her from breaking eye contact. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just here to… check out. A book.” She grabbed one off the shelf she was leaning on blindly, not looking away from Camilla’s alarmingly predatory stare for a second.

Palamedes sighed from his spot next to Camilla. “ _A Treatise on Neomedieval Alchemy and Its Uses in Modern Healthcare?”_ He extended a hand firmly until Gideon surrendered the book. “Gideon, even if I believed you-”

“Which we do _not._ ”

“Thank you, Camilla. _Even if I believed you_ , Gideon, it is two in the morning.” He somehow managed to make reshelving the book a pointed statement. “Library staff are not on duty for checkouts past nine. Which you know. Because Camilla and I have worked here since first year.” He paused, fixing Gideon and then Harrow with his patented Disappointed Look.

Gideon _hated_ the Disappointed Look.

“What are you even doing here, Sex Pal? It’s two in the fucking morning, go the fuck to bed.” She crossed her arms, biceps thrown into sharp relief by the weird angle of the light and the pose that she had practiced in front of the mirror for three weeks in undergrad. Harrow shifted restlessly next to her, one arm twitching in what looked like a thwarted attempt to feel the shadowed muscle. The shorter woman hissed wordlessly at Palamedes again, glaring furiously at the magic trapping her arms.

He rolled his eyes at both of them. “Use your words, Nonagesimus. It’s far too late to be trying to interpret you.”

Still glaring, Harrow ground out, “Let. Me. _Go._ Sextus.” Her teeth dug so sharply into her lip that it split, a bead of blood trickling down and immediately distracting Gideon.

“Say please.”

Gideon winced, Camilla dropped her face into a hand, and Harrow spat blood on the bone bracelets she wore. The bone immediately rippled, twisted, and grew, contorting in a truly nauseating fashion until a horrifying construct that looked like a cross between a spider and a facehugger perched on her wrist.

Everyone froze. Gideon, Palamedes, and Camilla stared at the construct in shared, mute disgust while Harrow panted heavily, blood leaking from her eyes but only augmenting the fury in her glare. Gideon tore her gaze away from the monstrosity to glance at Palamedes and was thoroughly not relieved to see him speechless. She jerkily raised a hand to place on Harrow’s arm. “Harrow-”

Before she could figure out what she was going to say, Harrow snarled wordlessly, her lip tore open further, and the construct leapt from her wrist to Palamedes’ face. He shrieked and the binding holding Harrow shattered at the same time that Gideon and Camilla drew their knives again. Gideon shoved Harrow behind her as Camilla ripped the construct off of Palamedes with sheer brute strength, smashing it into the ground and impaling it with a vicious strike of her longer knife. She whipped around, second knife very much present as she fumed. “You’re lucky Nav is here, Nonagesimus. I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but sort your shit out fast.” She kicked the construct at the pair of them. “You’re lucky combat is allowed in the library after dark or I would have you up in front of the Dean in a heartbeat. Now take your shit and get out.”

Palamedes was pale next to her, but looked admirably put together for a man who had just been assaulted by something out of Gideon’s deepest nightmares. He stepped forward, gently lowering Camilla’s knife with a hand on her arm. “Please remember that the library is not an appropriate place for… assignations. I will see you both on Wednesday for game night.”

Gideon wrapped an arm around Harrow’s waist, physically steering her out of the stacks towards the exit. It took more force than she was entirely comfortable with, Harrow struggling to stay and continue her weird pissing match, and she resorted to slinging the other woman over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry and beelining for the door, vicious curses trailing in her wake.

“Oh, and Harrow? You might want to wipe your mouth.”

Gideon walked faster.


End file.
